James Franco wrote an editorial for Vice yesterday about attending the Man Of Steel premiere. We’ll get back to his review of Man Of Steel in a moment. What caught our eye — and made us jump up and down yelling “OH IT’S ON NOW, SON!” — is what Franco wrote about The Amazing Spider-Man.

I too have been in comic-book films – the Spider-Man trilogy directed by Sam Raimi. I mention the director because this distinction is now necessary in the wake of the new Spider-Man series that arose even before there was time to bury the corpse of the old one and enshroud it in the haze of nostalgia. […] I don’t really feel much distress over its being remade, for many reasons, but what is interesting to me is that it has been remade so quickly – and the reasons why. The answer is, of course, money. [Vice]

It’s not a controversial statement, or even unfair, but it is refreshing to see an actor say something remotely unkind (and honest) about anything now that even reality stars who leak their porn tapes have “media training” and publicists quick to step in when a line of questioning veers towards an unrehearsed answer.

This wasn’t the first time James Franco has dissed the reboot, either. Back in January (video here), James Franco told MTV, “I mean, they could have strayed a little bit more from the original. It was like, ‘Why?’ I guess they made a lot of money. Congrats. Good for them. Sam and I moved on. We made Oz.”

In the Vice article, Franco goes on to say he attended the Man Of Steel premiere “incognito” because it wasn’t his film and because he didn’t think Henry Cavill liked him. The two worked together on Tristan and Isolde in 2005, about which Franco writes, “I wouldn’t have liked myself back then because I was a difficult young actor who took himself too seriously.” Safe to assume the 2005 version of him wouldn’t do This Is The End.

He goes on to detail how badly Henry Cavill wanted to play Superman, even back in their Tristan and Isolde days. He then calls Man Of Steel a “great film” that “made Superman cool again.”

Allow us to sum up his review with a GIF.

You can read the whole thing over at Vice, but we just need to quote one more thing.

I can understand the appeal the original Superman comics had for the WWII generation and its need for a hero to rid the world of evil, but in my days as a young man, this appeal was long outstripped by the cheesiness of the character’s suit and his douchey invincibility.

Y’know, I’m going to have to agree. The Amazing Spiderman sucks some serious balls – it doesn’t really do anything to play down the fact that it was made so that Sony could hold on to the rights to the character.

Film to film, Amazing Spiderman is better than Raimi’s movie. I guess as a comic book fan you’re more forgiving to different interpretations of the same story, I’m surprised by the hate this movie gets.

My problem wasn’t that it was a different interpretation, which I was actually exited about with the cast, my problem was that they didn’t really change anything other than superficial things and the things they did change was dumb.

The scene where Martin Sheen tries to think of a new way to say “with great power” was so awkward and stilted that it was pointless.

It wasn’t that the movie was bad that annoyed me, but how boring it was. I really don’t mind the fact that they rebooted the series, but an origin story was entirely unnecessary in 2012. Oh, that and the Lizard was a fucking terrible villain. Seriously, what the hell was he actually trying to achieve?

The more I watch the Raimi ones the more ridiculous they get, I’ve been a fan of Raimi’s work for years now but those movies are justretarded! Everything from the acting to the script and the costumes, I can’t believe it was ok’s by so many people.
The new one is much better in, well everything…. Casting, acting, fx, design and a loooong etc.
Sorry Raimi I like you and everything but I can’t forgive the fact that you took one of the most iconic and badass villians (Venom) and put him about 5 mins in a film and still managed to make him a pussy

Raimi didnt have creative control lol He was the director. Sony owns the film rights and foots the bill.

The first Raimi Spiderman is one of the best comic book interpretations to this day. That and TDK and MOS are my favorites. MOS was awesome imo and I am just waiting for the sequel to make any comparisons to the others.

Amazing Spider-Man and Man of Steel have a shocking amount in common. They’re both reworkings of franchises that already had a movie series. They both featured a greater amount of focus on each hero’s “original parents”. They both made pretty decent changes to the character’s origin. The difference is Amazing Spider-Man was actually true to its character, and a fun movie. While Man of Steel was…well, it was excellently acted and had some of the best fight scenes in a superhero film ever…but its not really Superman. Mind you that’s just my opinion, and the public at large (who only knows the barest of essentials about the character like…he wears a cape) thinks otherwise.

UMM that WAS Superman, more so than any other film interpretation. They did more to make this film a Superman movie than any others IMO. Your opinion is just an opinion and cant be made into a valid argument unless you say why you think it wasnt really Superman. Thats bold.

You know what is the biggest difference between these movies? The Spiderman franchise was started in 2002 and the Trilogy ended in 2007. MOS just released the first movie, not a reboot. Superman Returns was made in 06 and had no sequels because it sucked.

So he’s criticizing the Amazing Spider-Man saying that the only reason to reboot the franchise is to make money? So I take it he signed on to star in This Is The End because the script had a powerful message and it would challenge him as an actor.

Everyone thinks the Amazing Spiderman was an unnecessary reboot just to keep the Spiderman franchise in Sony’s control. That is a fact. The movies being good or not may have been affected by this because they have not been received well by critics. They still sell tickets.